Have you ever read a book that you absolutely loved but you don’t think that many other people will get it? That’s exactly how I feel about Women. This short, stripped down story of a relationship just…spoke to me. It’s honest and raw and funny and sad and managed to give me all of the feels. It felt like I had stolen someone’s diary and was illicitly gobbling up the details of their life – a bit like when you come across someone who over shares everything on social media and you fall down a rabbit hole stalking learning everything about them.
I don’t usually like books that are either self published or haven’t had a lot of money spent on them because you can just feel the cheap – the oddly worded sentences, the rubbish cover page and the super obvious title (not to mention the typographical errors and misprints). I don’t know what it is exactly, but Women somehow feels like it fits into this category. Despite scoring a cover quote from Lena Dunham (I personally have nothing against her, but if you do then don’t let it put you off) it’s obviously not going to be a bestseller and it definitely has an air of “debut author/limited budget” about it. However, that all seems to form part of it’s charm and actually enhances the appeal of the book rather than detracting from it.
I think it’s the quality of the writing. Chloe Caldwell writes with the most unflinching honesty and has elevated the tale of a fairly short lived, obviously doomed relationship from one of navel-gazing self pity to raw exploration of human emotion. I loved that all of her characters were so flawed and that they acted in completely illogical ways because it made them real. I loved the detail, I loved the depth, I loved the characterisation. I even loved the sex scenes because again, they felt so honest. I don’t think I’ve ever read a book where the sex is detailed but not titillating, relatable but not comedic, orgasmic but not euphemistic. It’s so rare to see a character with unshaven legs and half her clothes still on having incredible sex and it’s this unashamed female gaze/queer perspective that makes this book stand apart.
Overall, I loved this novella so, so much that in pretty much devoured it all in one go. Like watching a car crash in slow motion, I just couldn’t tear myself away. I can’t wait to see what Chloe Caldwell comes up with next.
Rating: Five gut wrenching cries (lust, anger, joy, frustration and crazy monkey sex) out of five.
Passionate, realistic #ownvoices realistic lesbian fiction. Finally.
Please note that I read this book for free via Netgalley in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks Netgalley! I also read this novel as part of the Book Riot Read Harder Challenge 2018 #15 Read a one-sitting book.
Oh yeah I’ve definitely been there with loads of books I’ve loved but don’t think other people will feel the same way about (and inevitably don’t). BUT I do love the sound of this- you’ve made this sound so intriguing!! The writing sounds very appealing and it sounds like it’s a very bold book. Wonderful review!
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Perhaps that’s because you like books that are 600 years old π? I really did enjoy this book, I’d love to see the author write a longer form novel with more characters, an expanded storyline etc. Thank you!
In other news I started reading the Foxhole Court…I now understand your “what even is this book” comment.
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ahahahaha!! Fair point π Yeah that’d be good π You’re welcome!
hahahahaaha π€£π€£π€£ I know right!! I can’t tell you how many times I thought “what am I reading?!”
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I just…I don’t understand. I feel like its meant to be satire, or have its own sense of weird humour but I’m missing the joke. And I still don’t know what their dumb sport is.
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hehehehe omg yes!! I know what you mean! The sport is so bizarre as well- it’s like football meets rugby meets squash meets whatever the hell I feel like throwing in there π
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Fantastic Review as always!!!πππ
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Thanks lovely! ππβ€οΈππ€π
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